The present invention relates generally to the field of board games, and in particular, to a new, useful and educational board game and method based on legal disputes and their resolution.
When asked what they want to be when they grow up, children are often heard to answer xe2x80x9cI want to be a lawyer or a doctor.xe2x80x9d Especially for young children, this usually means nothing more than wanting be like mom, or like dad, or like someone else they know or have heard about. Children rarely understand what it means to practice law or to be a lawyer.
One tool that is particularly useful as a teaching aide is a game. As will be clear from the following, one object of the present invention is to use the mechanism of a board game to help teach children and others what it is like to be an attorney who is involved in litigation.
The following U.S. patent classifications are relevant to the present invention:
Pertinent patents found in these classifications are:
The quintessential board game with legal features such as the concept of deeds of ownership, mortgages and the like, is the game of MONOPOLY. See U.S. Pat. No. 2,026,082 to Darrow.
A board game for teaching the fundamentals of constitutional and criminal law is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,045 to Vail using a board having a continuous path of spaces around the outer edge of the board. The game includes up to five sets of cards relating to different facets of law, including indictment cards, defense cards, stop and frisk cards, evidence cards and Search Warrant cards. Each player initially receives one indictment card charging them with a crime which the player attempts to defend against by accumulating juror pieces as rewards as the player moves around the board.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,211 to Brown discloses a board game having a series of space designating locations, player markers, a spinning randomizer, a set of destination cards and a set of court cards, and play money. Players first take a destination card to determine their goal. Then, using the randomizer, the players attempt to reach their destination without being forced to draw a Court card which penalizes the player for a traffic infraction. The winner is the player to arrive first at their destination without being fined, or the remaining player if all other players have gone bankrupt from fines.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,433 to Purlia teaches a game relating to the process for obtaining a patent in which a playing board has a continuous path around the board edges divided into spaces, markers for identifying each player, a randomizer in the form of a spinning wheel, and two sets of cards. One set of cards comprises concept cards, while the other set are search cards. The corner spaces of the board are marked home, patent office, manufacturing plant and patent office review. The remaining spaces are marked either patent attorney, manufacturing plant or concept. When a player lands on a concept space, they draw a concept card and when they subsequently land on a patent attorney space, they draw a search card to determine the patentability of their concept card. The game has provision for players to exploit their patents and receive royalties from other players as they move around the board, similar to MONOPOLY. The player is not given the option to appeal the result of the search card, and the players continue around the board until all but one player is bankrupt.
A board game having two player movement areas simulating initiation and resolution of malpractice claims is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,848 to Lichtman et al. The board has an outer continuous path of spaces around the outer edge of the board, and an inner column of spaces representing stages of a lawsuit. Each of four professions that can be represented by players has its own deck of cards for outcomes relating to fictional services provided by the player representing that profession. If the outcome is bad, then the player may commence a lawsuit against the player representing the professional accused of malpractice. A separate stack of Verdict cards are used to determine the outcome of any lawsuit started against a player""s professional alter ego. The players involved in the lawsuit can seek settlement at any time until the final Verdict is revealed from the cards, representing jury votes, that each player has. The game does not include an appeals process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,192 to Magiera describes a trial procedure-related combined card and board game in which cards accumulated by moving around a path on the board during a first phase of the game are played against each other in a second phase of the game. In the second, or trial, phase of the game, legal maneuver and objection cards are played by each player to win card hands.
A game having a linear board game path based on stock market concepts is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,886 to Moran. The path is arranged as a series of columns across the board divided into spaces of different colors. The game includes a set of market flash news cards, a set of stock cards and a set of price cards. Each player is represented by a marker, and play money is provided. One player acts as the Banker for the game and oversees transactions. The winning goal is set by the players, but the goal can be to have the most money at the end of the game.
The remaining patents disclose other board games involving money and randomized movement along a path on a board, but which are distinguishable from the invention, and they are enclosed for general reference.
The game of the present invention includes a board inscribed with columns and arranged to form a path divided into spaces or boxes, a plurality (i.e. eight) of mutually distinguishable player markers (each having a different color, for example), a number (three) of sets of cards, randomization means (i.e. one or two six-sided dice) and play money of varying denominations.
The three sets of cards are: Bring A Lawsuit or simply Lawsuit cards, Appeal cards and Settlement cards. Some of the spaces on the board bear instructions for a player to pay money or receive money. Other spaces instruct a player to draw a Lawsuit card.
To play the game, two or more players each select one of the player markers, which are preferably shaped as a gavel of different colors, place their markers at the start of the path on the board (e.g. on a box marked xe2x80x9cStartxe2x80x9d) and receive a sum of play money (e.g. $5,000). One person is selected to be the Banker to control the payment and receipt of the play money during the game.
The players throw one or both dice or use a spinner to determine the order of play, followed by each player in turn rolling one die, moving their marker a corresponding number of spaces (between one and six where a conventional six sided die is used) and following the instructions on the space reached by the player.
If the space instructs the player to pay or receive money, the transaction is performed with the Banker and the fund of play money, and the die is passed to the next player for their turn.
If the space instructs the player to take a xe2x80x9cBring A Lawsuitxe2x80x9d card , they draw the first card from the top of the Lawsuit card pile. The Bring A Lawsuit or Lawsuit cards each contain an outcome of a legal action which calls for the player to collect or pay money from or to the Banker or fund. If the player is not satisfied with the amount collected from the outcome on the Lawsuit card (which may be as little as zero or where the card directs a player to xe2x80x9croll againxe2x80x9d), the player may draw an Appeal card. The Appeal card contains instructions for changing the amount of money collected by the player, either up or down, or does not alter the Lawsuit card result.
Upon each turn after the player""s first turn, he or she may elect to take a Settlement card instead of rolling the dice. Each Settlement card contains instructions for paying or collecting money to or from the fund.
Once a player has at least $20,000 of play money, they can pay $20,000 to the Banker to become a xe2x80x9cpartnerxe2x80x9d, thereby doubling the amounts either collected or paid during subsequent play, according to the instructions on board spaces and the cards. Thereafter, the player may also xe2x80x9ccash outxe2x80x9d at any time and receive his/her $20,000 back and all money amounts are thereafter returned to their original value for further play.
The players continue to roll the die, take cards and move their markers until they reach the end of the path. Players who reach the end of the path before the others take a Settlement card instead of rolling the die upon each subsequent turn, until the last player has reached the end. The players then total their play money and the winner is the player who has accumulated the most money.
By careful use of Lawsuit, Appeal and Settlement card scenarios, a wide variety of legal situations can be described in a manner that is particularly tailored to children. This maintains the child""s interest while, at the same time, revealing to the child the potentials and risks for gain and loss that depend on the course followed, the selections made and even on luck. A comprehensive listing of the content of the cards is included in the detailed description of the invention to illustrate this feature of the invention.
Instead of education, the cards and spaces may be designed for other specialized legal entertainments, e.g. simulating medical malpractice law or other types of law.
The game board also includes other spaces that are instructive such as spaces early in the sequence that deal with law school education, law clerking, and the bar exam, later spaces reflecting various successes and failures of the player in his or her capacity as a lawyer, and spaces dealing with various other management and administrative responsibilities faced by many lawyers such as paying office rent, buying furniture and the like.
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide an educational and legal profession-based board game for play by a plurality of players, comprising: a game board containing a series of spaces on which each player can land, the spaces including a first plurality of spaces instructing a player to bring a simulated lawsuit and a second plurality of spaces instructing a player to act as a result of a simulated circumstance associated with the legal profession; a fund of play money; randomization means for randomly determining a number of spaces on the game board to be moved by each player; and a set of lawsuit cards each having thereon a lawsuit scenario including a fact pattern and a positive or negative monetary result. A player who lands on one of the first plurality of spaces takes a lawsuit card which results in either paying into the fund of play money, a negative result of the taken lawsuit card, or drawing from the fund of play money, a positive monetary result of the taken lawsuit card. A player landing on one of the second plurality of spaces acts in accordance with the simulated circumstance described on the second space landed upon.
A further object of the invention is to provide the game with a set of Appeal cards each having thereon an appellate level legal scenario. A player who takes a Lawsuit card has an option of taking an Appeal card and thereafter complying with the appellate level scenario thereon.
A still further object of the invention is to provide the game with a set of Settlement cards each having thereon a settlement scenario for a legal dispute, a player having an option of taking a Settlement card and complying with the settlement scenario at selected times during play of the game.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method of playing a legal based and educational board game.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated.